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9 Inch old world style Santa Claus figurine made with poly resin and painted in an old world matte finish.
Santa Claus is dressed in a gold trimmed burgundy Santa suit and Santa hat. Santa Claus is checking his list of good boys and girls in one hand and an arm full of toys. A Christmas garland is hanging from Santa‘s arm. This Santa Claus is well detailed and will make a great gift or addition to any Christmas decoration in the home.
Legends of St. Nicholas.
St. Nicholas and the Three Maidens.
One of the oldest and most popular of the legends of St. Nicholas tells how young Nicholas saved three sisters. The sisters had ass reached the age at which young women marry. Unfortunately, their father could not provide any of them with a dowry. When Nicholas found out he took a small bag of gold to the family’s house after it got dark and threw it in an open window. Some say he threw it down the chimney. The father gratefully seized the gold and used it to pay for the dowry of the eldest girl. Nicholas provided dowries for the second and third daughters I the same fashion. The third time Nicholas pulled this trick the girl’s father was waiting for him. When the bag of gold came flying into the house he ran outside, discovered Nicholas and thanked him for his generosity. Nicholas asked the man not to tell others of his good deed.
Some believe this legend gave rise to several Christmas season customs, including the tradition whereby St. Nicholas distributes gifts on his feast day. In addition, the custom of putting out shoes or hanging stockings by the fireplace to receive the saint’s and later Santa’s, gifts might also have been inspired by this story. This legend achieved such widespread fame and popularity that the three bags of gold became an emblem of the saint. Sometimes artists simplified their images of the saint by depicting the bags of gold as three gold balls.
St. Nicholas Day.
During the Middle Ages St. Nicholas was one of the most venerated saints in western Europe. Although his popularity has since declined, his feast day, December 6, is still celebrated in the Netherlands and other European countries. Immigrants brought the legends and customs surrounding St. Nicholas with them to the United States. There the saint was transformed into the American Christmas season gift bringer called Santa Claus.
Shoes, Stockings and Gifts.
In Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and parts of Germany, folk tradition cast St. Nicholas in the role of a Christmas season gift bringer. Folk representations of St. Nicholas usually portray him as an elderly white bearded man who carries a bishop’s staff and dresses in a red bishop’s robe and miter. This kindly saint distributes presents to others in honor of his feast day. On the night of December 5 he brings fruit, nuts, cookies, candy and other small gifts to well behaved children. Those who have misbehaved too often during the year might receive a stick, warning them of punishment to come.
Children expecting presents on St. Nicholas’s Eve helpfully provide small receptacles in which the saint may deposit his gifts. In the Netherlands children leave their shoes by the fireplace. In Czechoslovakia children attract the saint’s attention with stockings hanging on the window frame. In Austria Nicholas knows to look for children’s shoes on the windowsill. Perhaps inspired by legends of pagan spirits descending into homes via the smoke from the hearth, St. Nicholas often enters homes through the chimney.